Ross to Speak at NAS Symposium

Arun Ross, assistant professor of computer science and electrical engineering, will speak at the National Academy of Science Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium in November.

An expertise in biometric authentication has earned Arun Ross, assistant professor in the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, the honor of speaking at the National Academy of Sciences’ prestigious Kavli Frontiers of Science symposium in November.

Ross will join colleagues from other leading universities around the country at the symposium, which will take place November 2-4 in Irvine, Calif. The Academy annually chooses participants from a pool of researchers under the age of 45 who have made significant contributions in scientific fields.

Ross said that he is looking forward to the opportunity to interact with researchers from diverse areas, and that he is particularly interested in two presentations at the symposium: "How Many Dimensions Does the Universe Have?" and "Memory and Learning."

He said that his own presentation will focus on the challenges involved with identity technologies.

"It is imperative that we view biometrics as a grand challenge and recognize that solutions to some of the issues encountered in biometrics can impact other research areas as well," said Ross.

According to Ross, the goal of biometrics is to design large-scale authentication systems using biometric indicators that are able to operate under diverse scenarios. Ross believes that biometrics will profoundly affect the way identity is established in the 21st century.

"Biometrics is a fascinating pattern recognition and engineering problem from a researcher’s perspective. I am currently involved in projects related to multibiometrics, iris analysis, fingerprint indexing and video metrology," he added.

Ross received his doctorate in computer science and engineering from Michigan State University before joining WVU’s faculty in 2003. He has been named Outstanding Researcher, Outstanding Teacher and Young Researcher of the Year by the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.

The NAS symposium will be held in Irvine, Calif., in November. For more information on the symposium, click here.

10/04/2006